Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Tunisia and Suriname – will benefit from a share of the total $805 million worth of finance deals for investments in energy, housing, agriculture and water supply. A share of the total will also go to Latin America, the IDB said.

Under the terms of the agreements, Cote d'Ivoire will receive $265m for the Cocody Bay project and vocational training. Cocody Bay, in Abidjan, includes development of a marina, port works and construction of dams and transport infrastructure.

Mali will receive $166m for the country’s Sirakoro power plant project and Burkina Faso will receive $104m for a power project in that country.

Guinea is to receive $16m for a rural water supply project and Tunisia will receive $80m for agricultural development. Senegal and Suriname will receive a total of $173 for housing projects.

Hajjar said: "These infrastructure projects will go a long way to addressing the

development challenges of our member countries. They will greatly contribute in creating employment and providing an enabling environment for the growth of the public and private sector.”

That move followed Cote d’Ivoire’s debut XAF150bn ($268m) Islamic bond issuance, which was the second such transaction in the member countries of the eight-nation Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA). The sukuk reportedly saw a 38% allocation to investors from the Middle East region. In 2014, Senegal issued the UEMOA’s first Islamic bond.

The report said: “African sukuk are worth considering, as they offer diverse geographical and credit exposures. Given the focus on equity-based and asset-backed financing, sukuk provide solutions to facilitate the development of communities at large.”